Albus's sorting
by thedarklordslittledungeonbat
Summary: Albus-Severus Potter is going to Hogwarts... his rotten brother James has been teasing him about it for a while and when James finds out that Albus has befriended Scorpius Malfoy, he's not amused... Albus tells James off for upsetting Scorpius... and reveals some secrets... a fluffy little one-shot ON PROBATION


Title: Albus's sorting…

Author: LM Ryder the Batty Bat

Fandom: Harry Potter

Rating: K+  
Type: friendship

Characters: Harry Potter, Albus-Severus Potter, Severus Snape, Scorpius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Astoria Greengrass-Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy

Pairings: none

Universe: alternate after epilogue

Summary: Albus-Severus goes to Hogwarts… and is sorted…

Disclaimer: the author is an amateur writer who has a learning disability and profound dyspraxia, she is writing only for herself and not for paid publication. If any of the contents of the story is offensive the author will explicitly warn her readers at the beginning of the story. In no way is the content which may or may not be offensive a reflection of the author as a person. While copyright for the fandom remains with its respective owners the author claims copyright for the idea for the story and this manuscript may not be copied in whole or in part without express written permission from the author.

Warnings: none

Narrative viewpoint: first alternating.

Author's Note: inspired by watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 while I was working on Camp National Novel Writing Month (which is not a Harry Potter story till the last chapter but it is technically a crossover with Schindler's List)

Albus's Point of View

I got onto the train with my cousin Rose and my brother who immediately went to find his friends… rose had her nose buried in a book so I was left by myself. A blond haired boy with a long pointy face and blue-grey eyes came and knocked on the door…

"May I join you?"  
"Sure"

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy"  
"Albus-Severus Potter"

"Wow! You're named after two headmasters of Hogwarts… Severus Snape was my father's godfather… and"  
"he loved my grandmother"  
"My father said that his Uncle Sev was… a wickedly strict teacher but when he wasn't teaching, when it was just the two of them – he was funny and he sneered a lot less."  
"My father told me that Professor Snape hated him and was always mean to him in class"  
"that's true… but according to my father, he had loved your grandmother from the time they became friends at 8 years old and he made a huge mistake when he was 16 and an even bigger one six months later when he joined the Death Eaters because he was friends with my grandfather and my great-grandfather forced them into it."

"Wow that must have been awful"

"my grandfather won't talk about it… he's very nice actually but very strange… father says it's because he has a condition called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of the war."  
"That's understandable… by the way Scorpius; this is my cousin Rose Weasley"

"How do you do" said Scorpius

"I'm fine thank you" replied Rose

"Do you like to study?"  
"Yes… I love to study; I am planning on being a Ravenclaw… uncle Harry said that the sorting hat takes your choice into account."

"I'm probably going to be Slytherin, what about you Albus?"  
"I'm not sure… I was sort of hoping I wouldn't be in Slytherin because of Voldemort being in Slytherin but then again I'm not exactly sure I would be thrilled to be in Gryffindor…"

"Why not?" said a voice

"Because of you James" I replied "this is my brother… James… he's a prat"  
"I don't have any siblings…" said Scorpius "it's tradition in the Malfoy family to only have one child"

"Oh, I see,"  
"you've made friends with a MALFOY?"

"Yes what of it?"  
"They're evil"  
"no they're not"  
"don't be stupid James, they're not evil"

"They are…"

Scorpius blushed and ran out of the carriage suddenly… I knew he was going to cry

"Thanks a bunch James you just scared off my new friend… just you wait till I firecall mum from Professor Longbottom's office… you will get a howler…"

I followed Scorpius, shoving my brother violently into the door as I did so

"Oi" he yelled as I stamped hard on his foot.

"honestly James Sirius Potter if you can't see beyond a person's family then maybe dad should have sent you to a muggle military school instead of Hogwarts" I retorted "you are going to apologise to Scorpius – we are not going to end up like granddad potter and the marauders… picking on someone just because of their family or their house… did you know that Granddad potter and Great Uncle Sirius used to bully Professor Snape… one of the people I am named for? Dad told me that the other night… Great Uncle Remus was part of it as well… Grandma Lily was Professor Snape's best friend… until he got embarrassed by the marauders once too often and called her something unforgivable… dad visited Hogwarts to help Professor McGonagall with something when I was about three years old and we went to see Professor Snape's portrait… because when Professor Snape had been bitten by Voldemort's snake, Nagini he gave dad his memories… dad went to visit his portrait and thanked him for showing him his memories, he apologised for looking into the Pensieve when he was doing Occlumency lessons and he said "I think if things were different and mum hadn't died that night, she would have forgiven you. You didn't mean to call her that… the marauders provoked that reaction and you apologised repeatedly." And then he added "this is my son, Albus-Severus… Al, this is Professor Snape, he's the reason you have a middle name."

"We got to talking and" I added "Professor Snape said I can visit him, as long as it's ok with professor McGonagall – since his portrait is in her office… and you are not coming with me… he wouldn't like you anyway"

I left shoving James on his backside and went to find Scorpius

I told him everything I had told James "I will make sure he apologises to you… I am not having him act like his namesakes!"  
"Why?"  
"They used to bully one of mine… and I assure you it wasn't professor Dumbledore."

"Oh… I see… yeah dad told me about that…"

When we arrived at Hogwarts, Professor Longbottom was waiting to take us up to The Great Hall. Scorpius and I stood nervously side by side… Rose was behind us… I grabbed her hand and pulled her in between Scorpius and I. While we were waiting to go up to The Great Hall, Scorpius told Rose about how Aunt Hermione punched his father when they were in third year…

We filed solemnly into The Great Hall, Professor Longbottom had told us to line up.

"Weasley, Rose" Rose stepped forward with a little encouragement from Scorpius and I and sat on the stool, Professor Longbottom put the sorting hat on her head and after a few minutes it said "RAVENCLAW" Scorpius was next "SLYTHERIN" cried the hat Scorpius looked relieved. Finally, it was my turn… the sorting hat took a while with me… he said "hmm difficult, very difficult, more so than your father. "

"Put me in Slytherin please" I said

"Are you sure?"  
"Yes, I was afraid before but then I remembered that I had met Professor Snape when I was a child and he was head of Slytherin house... he's one of the two people I am named after remember and my friend Scorpius is there…"  
"All right… better be Slytherin"

The hall erupted in cheers… from the teachers table. Scorpius high-fived me and James looked put out from the Gryffindor table.

Scorpius and I went to tea with professor McGonagall on Friday,

"Are you boys happy in Slytherin?"  
"Yes ma'am, I like being in Slytherin"  
"I'm honouring family tradition… I think I would have preferred Ravenclaw but this way I am pleasing both of my parents… and grandparents" said Scorpius

A few weeks later, I met Scorpius's father… Draco.

We had our first flying lesson and Scorpius somehow managed to fall from his broom and give himself a mild concussion…

"You're like your mother Scorpius; she's not a confident flier either"

"This is my friend, Dad"  
"how do you do sir, my name is Albus-Severus Potter," I said holding out my hand. "Draco Malfoy" he said "you're partially named after my godfather"  
"I know"  
"have you met him?"  
"Yes, he was delighted that I got into Slytherin,"

"Dad, Al's brother was the one who tried to upset me on the train and Al told him off…"  
"I only told my brother that he wasn't to act like his namesakes, Granddad James and Great Uncle Sirius or I would tell dad and he would get sent to military school"

"Yes, your grandfather and his friends gave my godfather a hard time at school."  
"That's right… and they cost him his friendship with my grandmother."

"I never knew that"  
"because it was too difficult for him to talk about…"

"Yes, my godfather was a very private person… my father bewitched his portrait at Malfoy Manor so that when he feels uncomfortable he can turn into a bat and fly up into the trees behind the manor"

"He did look remarkably like a bat"  
"yes, he did… he used to refer to himself as the bat of the dungeons because the students called him that…"

I could see that Draco was quite comfortable telling us about his godfather… out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Madam Pomfrey had a portrait of Professor Snape in her office. I waved to him and he waved back.

The end.

AN: I am not good at writing endings and I don't want to turn this into a series. I will be writing a Harry Potter fan fix for National Novel Writing Month in November but it will not be canon compliant in the least – in fact, it is blatantly SNARRY, whereas this one tries to be at least.


End file.
